I guess the key question would be, how is it possible to get frame rates sufficient to entice a hardcore traditional desktop PC gamer like me to consider that product?

How could it even come close to a PC like mine in terms of experience... Or are they trying to convert the console folks?

I spoke with Corsair about the Bulldog back at CES in January. It was delayed several times, and just became available, as can been seen at Newegg. I took a close look at the prototype, as you can see in this article. The great thing about the Bulldog is that it can be equipped with top-end CPUs and GPUs, including the 6700K and GTX 1080.

The bad thing about Bulldog is that you can already do that with smaller, more customizable cases, such as just about anything in the TBG Small Form Factor Buyer's Guides. I offered to review the Bulldog to give some exposure to it in this guide. Corsair politely refused, instead sending me a box full of cool peripherals instead, many of which I've reviewed over the past few months, including in the Peripherals Reviews section.

Long story short: Bulldog can give you the performance you need for 4K gaming in a relatively small form factor, but it's outclassed by any number of pre-existing DIY solutions. And I think Corsair knows that.

But I don't get how even a 1080 could drive the Bulldog to half way decent frame rates on a large TV running at that resolution.

It's not about the size of the TV, it's just the resolution, and the GTX 1080 is a perfectly-capable 4K card. No one with a true HTPC setup is going to be running anything faster, as SLI really isn't an option when you're space-constrained.

I thought it was the # of pixels that had to be created (huge on a big TV), plus the resolution requirements, that determined how powerful the vid card had to be. (...and so I thought a big TV would never look as good as a desktop computer in gaming).

So, the same PC gaming reality experience I have in Battlefield 4/Multiplayer/Conquest on my Acer XB271HU with my 980Ti can be duplicated with a HTPC, the right 4K TV, and a Bulldog or other similar setup?

Well, not quite. In my article "Taking the 4K Challenge with GTX 980 Ti SLI", I found that running at 4K requires twice as much processing power as running at 2560x1440, which is the resolution of your Acer XB271HU. Most games on the market today will run at between 60 and 90fps on your 980 Ti at 1440p, which is right in the sweet spot for G-Sync's frame matching technology. On a 4K monitor, you'd be operating at 30-45fps, without G-Sync, and the experience would be bigger, but not necessarily better.

A GTX 1080 is 30% faster, pushing framerates into the 60-80fps range, perfect for a 60Hz 4K TV or monitor. There are no G-Sync TVs, but there are G-Sync 4K monitors, like the 32" Acer XB321HK. This monitor would really take advantage of the GTX 1080, providing the best 4K gaming experience possible, because when it dips below 60fps, it won't stutter or lag.

Really, though, the very best experience for a big-screen gamer today will come not on 4k monitors, but on ultra-wides, like the Acer Predator X34, as it can run at up to 100Hz. Until we have 4K 120Hz G-Sync TVs, we won't be able to match that experience from the couch, unfortunately! But the good news is that the new DisplayPort 1.4 standard, included in the latest graphics cards, has made this possible... now to see if any TV manufacturers actually aim for this market!